Reminder of upcoming events!

October 31, 2008: Halloween!
@Ben and Marina's club-house.
time-- 7:00pm
other info-- there will be food and dessert! come in your best costume!

November 2, 2008: Operation Christmas Child
@Crowne Plaza Hotel after service
Bring shoe boxes, $7 and toys for a girl or a boy. We'll wrap together and pray over the gift.

First week of November: HUDDLES!
Meet with your huddles groups. Your huddles lead should contact you regarding when and where.

Matthew 6: 25-34 Do not worry.

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Thanks to Ben and Vincent for cooking their delicious salmon and veggie dinner! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture but that's because it disappeared before I had time to bust out my camera! ;p

At this small groups we tried something a bit new-- ice breakers!

"What is one blessing you can share this week?"

Some people shared their victory in condo and apartment cleaning! Another shared a prayer answered after years of keeping the faith! And yet another shared a victory at work. Thanks for sharing!

This time around we talked about what it means to worry. The Bible tells us not to worry because God has us covered! He will provide us with the basic means of life.

Worrying is pointless, not beneficial! We'll end up spending our time in on the problem and fretting instead of working towards solving that problem.

Note verse 33-- this reminds us that we need to seek Him and His kingdom first!--then God will provide. --All things will fall in place.

He knows that we must get overwhelmed, as humans, too, as he tells us to take things one day at a time in verse 34.

What encouragement!

After the study we shared root beer floats with our birthday boy of the week, Ben!!!! Happy birthday! Thanks for being one cool kat!

Matthew 6:19-24 (Oct 15, 2008)

19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

This evening we talked about treasures--both earthly and heavenly. We discussed the differences between the two. One is perishable, desirable, storable. The other is imperishable, eternal. The problem and danger with earthly treasures is the pride, joy and comfort that comes with it and how it takes away our focus from God and His promise. While money/treasures can be used to further God's kingdom we must be wary of our intentions and not let personal greed tempt us into accumulating wealth for personal gain. Serving wealth is to want more wealth which is used to accumulate more wealth... what a vicious and futile cycle!

We cannot serve two Masters! Choose your adventure wisely, traveller.

Announcements:
- We'll be having ice breakers going forward to get people talking! Don't fret, we won't ask you to solve calculus problems.
- Halloween for SJ is at the clubhouse at Marina/Ben's complex. Dress us and invite some friends. Keep in mind that we can't have too many guests due to space, though!
- Oct 19 (Sunday) = Men's Meat and Greet at Cheasapeake. Contact Sam K. It's a great time to meet people and scarf down on MEAT!
- Oct 19 (Sunday) = Women's card making at Acacia. Contact Yukari. Come and get crafty! We'll be making nifty cards that you'll have a hard time giving away because you'll want to keep them for your own enjoyment!

And now for your enjoyment -- pictures of the food crew!

Thanks to Sam and Justin for cooking up some awesome apple chicken and veggies! MMM MM good!

LSFG - San Jose game night (10.01.08)

This time Jeff and Tak made us yakisoba. mmmmmmm Japanese noodles!
Thanks to the awesome chefs for our delicious meal!












































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**************At this meeting we continued our journey in Matthew 6:9-15:

9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.^[a]'
14For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew shares with us that when we pray it should be real, personal and honest. The old-schoolers of prayer would regurgitate words and called it prayer. It lost it's point. God wants to hear us; He wants us to have a conversation with us. Note that Matthew suggests verses 9-13 as a format to pray, but we do not have to pray this word for word. What's important that we do pray to Him. Recognize that He will always provide for us. And that we should share His love to others.